Sketch design for the canopy of the Bishop’s Throne at the east end of the south side of the choir stalls. Reverse: three studies for the same feature

WRE/4/2/1

c.1693–94

Sir Christopher (1632–1723) Wren, Nicholas (c.1662–1736) Hawksmoor

Pen and brown ink with brown wash over pencil; additions in pencil. Reverse: pen and brown ink, with pencil. Thin laid paper, folded three times to form a packet, but trimmed across the lower side. 24.0 x 32.6 cm. No watermark or countermark.

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang2057{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Microsoft Sans Serif;}{\f1\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 System;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue128;} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\cf1\f0\fs20 An initial perspective study for the canopy of the Bishop\rquote s Throne, drawn by Hawksmoor, with preparatory and alternative studies on the reverse, probably partly in Wren's hand. Datable c.1693-94. Implied scale, about 1.7 ft to 1 inch.\par \par The completed Bishop\rquote s Throne, carved in oak and limewood by Grinling Gibbons in 1696-97, is just over 5 ft wide and has three-stage canopy 11 ft high (see Poley 1927, pl.XXVI). The lower stage is a continuation of the gallery front (2 ft 9 inches in the fabric, compared with 2 ft 3 inches in the earlier phases of the design), and enriched with festoons and winged cherubs. Above is a circular openwork canopy of four cherub-head consoles linked by crossed festoons. On top, a scrolled-bracketed upper stage carries a bishop\rquote s mitre. \par The throne in this sketch is about 6 ft 6 inches wide and the gallery front is 2 ft 3 inches high, as in studies from the first stage of the design; see WRE/4/1/9-13. Long scrolled brackets rise well above the gallery front to carry a circular canopy with a lambrequin border which shelters carved musicians on the gallery front. Finials resembling bishop\rquote s mitres rest on the brackets and smaller finials stand on the drum of the canopy. Ogee-shaped caryatid consoles carry a flaming crown rather than a bishop\rquote s mitre. \par \par The absence of a crowning mitre on this drawing, and the removal of the mitre from the next design in the sequence, WRE/4/2/2, may indicate uncertainty about the occupant of the throne. On the left, Hawksmoor sketched in pencil a convex scrolled motif as a support for the bracket. He developed this idea on the reverse. To the right is an unrelated, ruled-pencil study for the ceiling soffit of two stall bays in the middle gallery, measuring 2.5 inches across, or 5 ft wide. \par \par \b Reverse:\b0\par \par Three sketch designs: \par \par (i) Drawn in the same sense as the front sketch is a small preparatory study in pen and ink. The drum and concave top are plain and a pencilled circle indicates the plan (the \lquote\i 95\i0\rquote to the right belongs to an eighteenth-century numbering sequence). The absence of pencil under-drawing suggests Wren's hand\par \par (ii) Drawn upside down in the centre is a larger pen-and-ink study which shows the scrolled brackets with cherubs\rquote heads and adds vertical supports to the drum. Probably also by Wren.\par \par (iii) To the right is a vigorous pencil study developed from the left-hand sketch on the front of the sheet. It gives the long bracket a half turn and sets it on a swan-neck pediment entwined with foliage. The heavy pencil sketching is similar to Wren's on WRE/2/4/3. A study for this intricate motif is drawn in lighter pencil below. Hawksmoor developed this motif at the next stage of the design; see WRE/4/2/2, \cf0\b\f1\par }

Access to the Wren office drawings held at London Metropolitan Archives is available only with advance notice and at the discretion of the Heritage Services Director, London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R 0HB.

WRE/4/1/9, WRE/4/1/10, WRE/4/1/11, WRE/4/1/12, WRE/4/1/13, WRE/4/1/16, WRE/5/2/3